Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 220 The End of the Hero
"Your Majesty, this, this, this."

Inside the Qianqing Palace, Lu Jiude who was standing next to him was dumbfounded.

Although he knew what kind of person Chongzhen was, how could you not even...

"Taizu's scolding is too harsh. I... I am at a loss for words."

Chongzhen came to his senses and stammered.

He had heard from Lu Jiude that Zhu Yuanzhang's few thousand soldiers were worth a million lions.

What's more, all the people in the south submitted to Taizu.

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang conducted large-scale confiscations of officials and wealthy people in the south, and the proceeds were countless.

Given the wealth of the South, even if Zhu Yuanzhang recruited a million soldiers, it would be more than enough for him to raise an army of 200,000 or 300,000.

In contrast.

He gave all the money he had managed to scrape together to Sun Chuanting.

Sun Chuanting defeated Li Zicheng and seized more than one million taels of silver, which were sent to Beijing, and he used all of it as a salary in Liaodong.

Now that Jinzhou has been lost, Wu Sangui has retreated to Ningyuan (Huludao). If he does not pay the Guanning Iron Cavalry, the Jian Nu might attack.

So now Chongzhen has no money and no soldiers.

Now even Sun Chuanting has defected to the other side. If the man from the south wants to go north, he really won’t be able to stop him.

"What can we do?"

Lu Jiude smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, please go south and admit your mistakes to the Grand Ancestor."

"I can't go. If I go, how can I save my dignity?"

Chongzhen thought of the harsh words he had just said and slid to his knees in the blink of an eye. He was so spineless.

Emperor Taizu said that he committed suicide and died for his country, preserving the integrity of the Ming Dynasty. Now that he is like this, wouldn't Emperor Taizu look down on him?

"But how can we save face by admitting our mistakes to our ancestors?"

Lu Jiude persuaded again.

However, Chongzhen was so stubborn that he gritted his teeth and said, "The war in the north is devastating and the country is in turmoil. If I go, what will happen to the border with the enemy? I can't go."

"Ugh."

Lu Jiude sighed and said, "In this case, I will return to Nanjing immediately to meet Taizu and defend Your Majesty."

"Ah."

Chongzhen didn't say anything, but just responded in a tacit manner. Then he returned to the dragon throne like a walking corpse, looking a little dazed.

What happened today was like a dream, making him feel unbelievable.

In addition to confirming the true news that Taizu descended to the earth.

What he was still thinking about was the last bit of pitiful face he had as the leader of this huge, ancient, and dying dynasty, even if this bit of face was earned in front of the founding emperor of this empire.

"His Majesty."

At this moment, Wang Dehua came in again and said cautiously: "Jinyiwei has a report."

"What's the matter?"

Chongzhen asked blankly.

"A large number of Nanjing Jinyiwei suddenly appeared in the city, and they set up wooden boards everywhere in the city. Suddenly, an old man in a dragon robe appeared on the boards. He could move and speak, and he called himself Taizu."

As Wang Dehua was talking, he suddenly noticed the wooden boards, screens, and projectors in the hall. He was stunned for a moment and said, "It seems to be this kind of thing."

"Back off and let them be."

Chongzhen waved his hand.

He regrets it now, just regrets it.

Why am I so stubborn and recalcitrant?
It would have been better if I had lowered my head and admitted my mistake.

Now not only Taizu wants to slap him in the face, but Chengzu also wants to truly obey the will of heaven and quell the rebellion.

At that moment, Chongzhen felt as if the sky had fallen.
"Famous."

In Nanjing, Zhu Yuanzhang hung up the radio and could not help but swear: "This little Chongzhen has a pig brain."

Zhu Yunfeng, who witnessed everything nearby, pointed to his temple and said, "Or he is Chongzhen, he has a brain disease."

Although Chongzhen took over a mess, since the Jiajing, Wanli and Tianqi periods, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty had been declining, with political turmoil and frequent natural disasters.

To a certain extent, even if Chongzhen did not mess around and was as corrupt as Tianqi, this empire would not have lasted long.

But it is also a fact that he has no ability to clean up this mess, and it is even getting worse.

During the reign of Chongzhen, he was suspicious of everything. During his 17 years in office, he replaced 19 cabinet chief ministers, 50 cabinet ministers, 17 ministers of the Ministry of Justice and 15 ministers of the Ministry of War. The personnel changes were more frequent than during the Hongwu period.

Among them were many capable ministers and generals, such as the Minister of War Wang Qia, who was also a capable minister. When he was an official in the local area, he had outstanding political achievements. Local officials and people admired and respected him.

Later, Wang Qia was summoned to the court, and his presentation of ten major military and political matters to Chongzhen was all adopted. The court followed his approach and the border area gradually improved. The people he recommended were all very talented and were given important positions.

In theory, this should be good.

However, Wang Qia served as the Minister of War for less than a year and had not yet achieved anything significant because he was imprisoned and executed by Chongzhen because the troops he mobilized failed to stop the Later Jin invasion.

Even Wang Qia was considered to have worked for a long time because he only worked for less than a year. Some people were dismissed and imprisoned by Chongzhen after only a few months or even days.

The problem with Chongzhen was that he was eager for quick success and was also suspicious.

The minister has only been in office for a few days, but you expect him to achieve political achievements immediately, without considering the actual situation at all, and only pursuing speed.

Once the other party fails to meet expectations, kill him immediately.

For example, Yuan Chonghuan proposed to pacify the Liao Dynasty in five years, but less than two years had passed before the Later Jin invaded the Pass and the Ji Si Rebellion occurred. Chongzhen thought Yuan Chonghuan was deceiving him and killed him.

Although Yuan Chonghuan did have some serious problems, not to mention the fact that he killed Mao Wenlong without authorization, just the fact that he kept proposing to lead troops into the city when he was unable to resist the Later Jin outside the city, and with rumors everywhere at the time, this action might have been motivated by bad intentions.

But as the saying goes, don't employ a person you doubt, and don't doubt a person you employ. Yuan Chonghuan was appointed by you, and now you doubt him again. Why don't you look for your own problems?
And there is Chen Xinjia.

It was clearly you, Chongzhen, who wanted to negotiate peace with the Later Jin, but when the news got out, you slaughtered Chen Xinjia as a scapegoat, letting your ministers take the blame for him, while you yourself were not involved in any of the blame.

In addition, his frequent changes in orders, his eagerness for quick results, his credulity for slander, and his wrongful killing of loyal officials all contributed to the loss of popular support. By the end of Chongzhen's reign, few people dared to speak the truth and make suggestions, and they could only follow his wishes.

In the end, he completely shirked his responsibility by saying that it was his ministers who misled him.

If he had not hanged himself and written in blood before his death, "Let the thieves dismember my body, but do not harm a single civilian", I am afraid that the reputation of the Ming Dynasty would have been ruined by him and Zhu Qizhen to the point where it was on par with that of Song Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Yunfeng also had high blood pressure when he read the history of the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty.

There are capable ministers inside and outside the court.

But Chongzhen himself played a not-particularly bad hand of cards badly, and in the end he pushed the blame onto the civil and military officials.

Although there were indeed problems among the civil and military officials, and there were constant factional struggles among them.

But if you are truly capable and a man of great vision, how could you let these things happen?
It is just like Fan Kuai would be a pig butcher if he had not followed Liu Bang. Xu Da and Chang Yuchun would be farmers if they had not followed Zhu Yuanzhang.

The reason why a powerful ruler is a powerful ruler is that he can discover talents and even cultivate talents himself.

Chongzhen was unable to resolve the chaos of factional strife in the government, nor was he able to bring out the abilities of talented people. Instead, he hunted down and killed ministers everywhere, causing them to become alienated from each other. No one dared to trust him, and he did not trust anyone.

The Ming Dynasty could have lasted for decades, but it was destroyed in his hands. How could Zhu Yunfeng not be furious after reading this history?
"Humph."

Old Zhu snorted coldly and said, "Since he wants me to go to Beiping in person, then I will go. Call Old Four, what's the situation?"

The telegraph operator immediately switched the channel to Zhu Di's radio station.

"Hey."

The voice came from little Zhu Di.

Zhu Yuanzhang still had a trace of anger left in him, and asked in a very unfriendly tone: "You haven't surrounded and killed Li Zicheng yet?" "It's almost there, we have surrounded Li Zicheng, and we will be able to break through soon."

Little Zhu Di noticed that Old Zhu's tone was not right, so he asked, "Father, do you want me to solve it quickly?"

"You have been chasing after a little Li Zicheng for two or three months. What use do I have for you?"

Old Zhu still acted like a feudal patriarch. When he was upset by his younger descendants, he took it out on young Zhu Di.

Little Zhu Di shrank his neck and said, "Dad, I will attack right away."

"Humph."

Lao Zhu took off his headphones and left the telecommunications room.

After he left, Zhu Yunfeng put on his headphones and said, "Lao Deng is confused."

"Did you provoke him?"

Little Zhu Di was puzzled.

"No, why would I bother him for no reason?"

Zhu Yunfeng curled his lips.

Old Zhu used to ask me to be his dog, but I am a coward, how could I be willing to be someone else's dog? The worst that can happen is that I will have a fight with you, Old Deng.

So now Zhu Yunfeng is lawless, and as long as he doesn't do anything against the principles, Old Zhu has no way to deal with him.

However, Zhu Yunfeng usually doesn't go out of his way to cause trouble and to blame Old Zhu. It's enough for everyone to maintain a good relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.

So this time it has nothing to do with me at all.

"So who pissed him off? Chichi?"

"It has nothing to do with him."

"Who is it?"

"Who else could it be? The Chongzhen Emperor in Beijing."

"Him? How did he offend father?"

"Isn't this connected to Chongzhen? That guy already believed in our ancestors, but I don't know what's wrong with him. When our ancestors scolded him, he got angry and retorted, saying that he was not at fault and it was all the fault of the civil and military officials. Hearing him shirking responsibility like this, our ancestors are so angry now that they are planning to ask you to lead the army to Beijing to quell the rebellion."

"."

Little Zhu Di over there was speechless.

Good guy.

In history, the Jingnan Campaign was fought from Beijing to Nanjing, and now we have to fight from Nanjing to Beijing, right?

But Chongzhen was indeed a stubborn man. Regardless of whether you were right or not, just bear with the ancestors scolding you. If you can't stand this, what kind of emperor are you?
Besides, it’s not wrong for your father to scold you.

Zhu Di himself also had high blood pressure when reading the history of the late Ming Dynasty.

It is true that you, Chongzhen, are diligent and hardworking, but you are putting your efforts in the wrong place.

An emperor can be bad, cruel and murderous, but he can never be incompetent.

You don't have the ability to save the Ming Dynasty from disaster. You make trouble every day and shirk your responsibilities. You deserve your father to scold you.

"Forget it, hang up, I'm going to attack the mountain."

Little Zhu Di raised his head and looked into the distance.

This place is deep in the Dabie Mountains, probably in the northeast of Yingshan County in later times, west of Yuexi County, and near the Mingtang Mountain Scenic Area.

The mountains are high and the forests are dense. There are dense jungles and steep cliffs all around, and you can't see the end at a glance.

I have to say that Li Zicheng is indeed a good runner.

Moreover, Li Zicheng had a great reputation among the people, otherwise he would not have been able to grow his army from 18 riders to hundreds of thousands in just a few years.

Thanks to the famous saying "The King of Rebellion comes without paying taxes", he has a high level of popular support in Henan, Huainan and other places. Even in the deep mountains and old forests, there are many supporters.

After all, the common people who can hide in the mountains and forests are often those who survive by being exploited by landlords, corrupt officials and this dark world.

With the help of these people, Li Zicheng knew the way and left the young Zhu Di far behind, so that he could not catch up at all.

If Zhu had not mobilized troops from Hubei, including Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi, and if Sun Chuanting's troops had not surrounded them from Henan, with a total of 70,000 to 80,000 troops, to launch a dragnet search, Li Zicheng might have already fled to Hubei and continued to flee to other places.

In the valley, the camp blocked out the sun.

Half a year has passed since the Battle of Tongguan. At that time, his soldiers and their families in the old camp totaled four to five hundred thousand people.

Now there are less than 100,000 left.

More than half of the soldiers were killed, and now there are less than 20,000 soldiers left. Some were killed, some escaped, and some scattered along the way. Those who have survived until now are all loyal to the Chuang army.

The deep mountains and old forests placed great restrictions on the young Zhu Di. Rapid-fire cannons could not enter, so he could only bring mortars and AKs, but the restrictions on Li Zicheng were even greater.

According to historical records, 70% of the rebel army were cavalry and had extremely strong mobility.

However, being forced into the deep mountains, their mobility was greatly reduced, and it became difficult for them to get rid of young Zhu Di.

In addition, the Ming army from the Huguang direction also surrounded them, and their tracks were soon discovered.

But even if there are less than a hundred thousand left, it is still a hundred thousand.

All the trees within a radius of several miles were cut down, the camp was set up at the foot of the mountain, the roads were extremely narrow, and all the important roads were tightly guarded.

The surrounding mountains were controlled by the Chuang army, which was in a commanding position and was like an iron wall to defend against the Ming army.

But he could defend against the armies of Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi, but not against the army of young Zhu Di.

At this moment, on the distant mountains, Li Zicheng and his nephew Li Yu were looking down from a high place. From a distance, they could vaguely see a team slowly approaching on the eastern mountain road.

"Uncle, we are running low on food and fodder. Although we have some in Huainan, it won't last long."

"The government troops have sent another letter urging us to surrender. Now everyone is talking about the news that Taizu has come down to earth to save the world. Now Taizu is slaughtering landlords and wealthy people in the south and distributing land to the people. Maybe we should surrender."

"I know it's not easy for you to start your own business, but we are really at the end of our rope now. I don't want you to continue like this."

"It is said that the man who is hunting us is Emperor Cheng Zu. It is an honor to be hunted by Emperor Cheng Zu."

Li Guo kept talking about all the bad news.

Li Zicheng didn't say anything.

This is his nephew. He has no son, and Li Guo is his son, so he knows that he must let his nephew live.

but.

He had killed Prince Fu, Prince Tang and others. Even if Taizu really came down to earth, how could he let him go given his evil deeds?
Li Zicheng looked into the distance and said softly, "Guo'er."

"uncle."

"After the fight starts, you lead your men to surrender."

"But what about you, uncle?"

"me."

Li Zicheng looked down at the cliff, shook his head slightly and said, "The court will not let me go, uncle, let me see if I can hide."

My life has been full of ups and downs. I have experienced embarrassment, wealth, arrogance and glory.

Now it’s the end of the road.

He was still hunted down by the famous Emperor Chengzu.

Die without regrets.

(End of this chapter)